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US Democrats secure 60th vote on health bill
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-20 09:02
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The Senate bill would extend coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans, provide subsidies to help them pay for the coverage and halt industry practices like refusing insurance to people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Reid's amendment incorporates a variety of changes, from dropping the government-run public insurance option to adding non-profit health plans offered by private insurers and administered by a federal agency.
Other revisions take aim at insurance industry margins and taxes, including a cap on profits. Still, insurers would see a delay to the bulk of new taxes and now they would be phased-in over time.
Also included is an increase in the Medicare payroll tax from 0.5 percent to 0.9 percent on income over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.
But much of Reid's focus had been on winning Nelson's support. He and other abortion rights opponents feared the federal subsidies could be spent on plans covering abortion.
Nelson said the agreement would allow states to prohibit abortion coverage in the new insurance exchanges created under the bill and mandate that every state exchange include an insurance plan that does not cover abortion.
It would require payments for abortion coverage be made separately with private funds.
"The plan that we've put together here, that we have agreement on, in fact walls off that money in an effective manner," Nelson told reporters. "I would not have voted for this bill without these provisions."
Reid said the additional funds for Nebraska to pay for the expansion of the Medicaid health program for the poor under the bill were "a minor part" of the negotiations with Nelson.
"That's what legislation is all about," he said. "It's compromise."
Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, a strong supporter of abortion rights, told reporters she believed the compromise would adequately separate public and private funds for abortion coverage under the bill.
But the National Right to Life Committee condemned the compromise. "The new abortion language solves none of the fundamental abortion-related problems with the Senate bill," said Douglas Johnson, the group's legislative director.
A version of the healthcare bill passed by the House includes stricter anti-abortion language. The Senate rejected an amendment incorporating the language last week.
